NJ Sued Over Knife Carry Laws
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative file photo. Fixed blade and folding knives are shown together in a military field kit. Knife Rights, the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs and four residents filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 21 challenging New Jersey restrictions on carrying knives and other weapons for self defense. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. David Lankford)
Gun rights and knife rights organizations have filed a federal lawsuit challenging New Jersey laws that can make it a crime to carry knives and other objects under circumstances the state considers inappropriate for their lawful uses.
The lawsuit was filed Monday by the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Knife Rights and four New Jersey residents against Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and acting State Police Superintendent Jeanne Hengemuhle.
At the center of the case is a part of New Jersey law covering what the state calls “other weapons.”
The statute says a person commits a fourth degree crime when they knowingly possess another weapon under circumstances that are not manifestly appropriate for its lawful uses.
New Jersey defines weapon broadly enough to include objects capable of causing serious bodily injury. The lawsuit argues that this can sweep in ordinary objects such as knives, baseball bats, hammers, screwdrivers and similar tools depending on why and how they are being carried.
A fourth degree crime in New Jersey can carry a prison sentence of up to 18 months.
The unusual part of the dispute involves self defense.
The plaintiffs point to a 1990 New Jersey Supreme Court case involving a woman who carried a carpet cutting razor because she feared another encounter with a former boyfriend who had previously beaten her.
The man later attacked her, and she used the razor to defend herself.
The state Supreme Court held that anticipatory self defense did not excuse her possession of the weapon. The court said the result could have been different if she had spontaneously obtained the weapon during an immediate attack rather than carrying it beforehand in anticipation of a confrontation.
That distinction is now a major part of the new federal lawsuit.
The plaintiffs argue that after the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to carry arms publicly for self defense, New Jersey cannot continue treating advance possession of certain nonfirearm weapons for protection as unlawful.
They argue the Second Amendment protects arms generally, not firearms alone.
New Jersey case law does recognize a different rule inside the home.
In a 2017 case called State v. Montalvo, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that possession of a weapon for self defense in the home could qualify as a lawful purpose.
The new lawsuit argues that the same constitutional principle should now extend outside the home.
The lawsuit also challenges separate New Jersey restrictions covering specifically named weapons.
State law restricts possession of items including gravity knives, switchblade knives, daggers, dirks, stilettos, billies, blackjacks, metal knuckles and slingshots without an explainable lawful purpose.
The plaintiffs argue self defense should qualify as a lawful reason to possess those weapons and contend that commonly owned knives and other defensive tools are protected by the Second Amendment.
The state has not conceded that interpretation.
A spokesperson for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office told the New Jersey Monitor that the state will defend the laws and said New Jersey’s weapons restrictions are intended to protect public safety.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare the challenged restrictions unconstitutional and prevent state officials from enforcing them.
No judge has ruled on those claims yet.
The question now before the federal court is broader than whether New Jersey can regulate knives.
It is whether the state can make the reason someone carries an otherwise ordinary object part of what turns that possession into a criminal weapons offense, particularly when the stated purpose is protection from a future attack.
(Source: OAF Nation)
